The Dutch government has approved the first electric scooter for public roads and bike lanes, marking a cautious yet significant shift in the country’s tough stance on micromobility. Dubbed Selana Alpha and developed by the startup Selana, the vehicle was recently approved for use on Dutch roads by the national transport authority (RDW). In the process, the e-scooter earned its first blue license plate, which means it’s now legally allowed to be driven as a light motor vehicle.   For co-founders Chingiskhan Kazakhstan and Max Schalow, the plate marks the end of a long regulatory slog to legalise their scooter. “After…

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Despite a cautious VC climate and ongoing geopolitical jitters, European startups are still attracting serious cash.  Covering everything from AI drug discovery and space launches to quantum software and fusion energy, the continent’s startups raised €19bn in the first half of 2025, according to Dealroom data.  We’ve crunched the numbers so you don’t have to. Here are the 20 largest startup funding rounds for H1 2025. (Note: This list includes only startups founded in 2015 and later.)  1. Helsing — €600M HQ: Munich, Germany Helsing builds AI-powered software for defence systems, designed to help democratic governments respond to modern security threats.…

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The EU AI Act is expected to introduce its key rules for general-purpose AI (GPAI) models on August 2. However, amid growing concerns that over-regulation could erode Europe’s competitiveness in artificial intelligence, calls to postpone the roll-out have intensified from some key stakeholders, including Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Bosch CEO Stefan Hartung, and the tech lobbying group CCIA Europe, whose members include Alphabet, Meta, and Apple. At TNW Conference in Amsterdam on June 20, Eoghan O’Neill, senior policy officer at the AI Office of the European Commission, addressed the potential delay of the roll-out. He clarified that the Commission…

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The NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) has made its first investment in a biotechnology startup. The alliance’s VC arm announced today that it’s co-leading a $35mn Series A round for UK-based Portal Biotech as it seeks to strengthen NATO’s defences against biological warfare. Portal develops portable, AI-powered diagnostic devices capable of detecting pathogens at the single-molecule level. The system is capable of defending against biological warfare. Ana Bernardo-Gancedo, senior associate at NATO Innovation Fund, told Reuters that this capability is crucial for defence and security. “We believe it is absolutely imperative that we are able to detect, monitor, and create countermeasures,”…

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AI slop songs are flooding Spotify — and the latest hit is by an indie rock band called The Velvet Sundown. The track’s success has intensified the ongoing debate on whether or not music streaming sites should label AI-generated songs. The group has attracted 474,341 monthly listeners on Spotify in under a month. Its top track, “Dust on the Wind” — which sounds similar to the 1977 Kansas hit “Dust in the Wind”  — has been played over 380,0006 times since its release on June 20. The Velvet Sundown was first flagged as potentially AI-generated by Reddit users, who pointed…

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